


once upon a dream

by ZephyrEden



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Canon Compliant, Dreams, Gen, Sleep, i'm so nervous i hope you like this???
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-25
Updated: 2018-12-25
Packaged: 2019-09-26 19:19:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,468
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17147594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZephyrEden/pseuds/ZephyrEden
Summary: wrapped in a warm cocoon of light and caught in the instant between waking and dream, two hearts that both know the unwavering hold of slumber have a chance meeting in the timeless realm of sleep.





	once upon a dream

**Author's Note:**

  * For [PondreaArt on twitter](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=PondreaArt+on+twitter).



> my 2018 secret santa gift for the wonderful Pondrea. i hope you like it, the idea of ven and aurora together really got me inspired uwu

Wrapped in the warm embrace of light, everything is blinding.

He feels like he hasn’t opened his eyes in a long time. Even now, he can barely crack them open. He feels like he’s stuck in the limbo of twilight, like someone has tried to shake him awake from the depths of an impossibly deep sleep. And while his body is trying to respond, his brain is sluggish as it attempts to wake.

He’s tired. He’s always tired. He wants to go back to sleep.

He closes his eyes. He can feel his body sink, cradled in the midst of a slumbering ocean.

“Hello?”

He’s washed up on the beach, wrung out and salt-crusted as he’s left to dry in the sweltering heat. The comfort of sleep is out of his reach.

It’s with a great deal of effort that he forces his eyes open, the cocoon of white around him unbearably bright. It’s even more of a struggle to lift his head, a fight against his own body to keep it upright. He doesn’t think he’ll be winning for long.

There’s someone moving at the edge of the brightness. A body forms in vague shapes, not entirely whole, taking up space in the absence of the void they’re trapped in.

“I’m sorry to disturb you, but do you know the way out?”

He doesn’t need to look around to know the answer. “There isn’t one.”

“Oh,” the voice answers, seeming less distraught and more than anything put out by the response. “That won’t do, that won’t do at all.”

The shapes lose their softness, sharpening into something solid and fully formed. A hand reaches out and pierces through the fog, the rest of the body following and stepping into his view.

His eyes widen. She’s beautiful, more beautiful than anyone he’s ever seen, and the sight of her pulls on some thread of familiarity in the back of his mind. The fog in his head is too thick, though, too dense for him to reach through and grab at it. His eyes catch the glint of a crown nestled atop golden hair.

A princess.

She looks around, her mouth parting slightly as a look of understanding crosses her face. She crosses the distance between them, stopping when she finally seems to take notice of the other person in this ephemeral place.

She looks down at him with soft eyes, her perfectly red lips curving into a hopeful smile. “Do you think you could help me wake up? There are people depending on me right now, you see. I really should be getting back to them.”

His spine feels like it’s been frozen stiff and it leaves his responding nod looking rigid by the best of standards. Still, he tries to move. He tries but it feels like trying to push a mountain – impossible and exhausting. With great force he closes his eyes to focus, like a thousand claws inside him are scraping for every ounce of energy it can harvest from the furthest reaches of his limbs.

His head falls and he breathes out a chuckle. “Sorry, but I don’t think I can move.” He inhales and holds the air in his lungs, rolling his head back before he lets it out. “Not much more than that, at least.”

She looks worried, maybe even a bit guilty, but she keeps her smile in place. “That’s alright. Thank you for trying. I’m sure whatever brought me here will lead me back eventually, so I suppose I’ll just have to wait until then.” She folds her hands in front of her, taking another step forward. “Can I ask your name?”

He smiles, trying to reassure her. “I’m Ventus. Call me Ven.”

She nods, one hand raising gracefully to her chest while the other pinches the blue fabric of her dress with practiced ease as she curtsies. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ven. My name is Aurora.”

His smile falters, his brows furrowing as he stares at her.

She tilts her head in response, a curious look on her face. “Is something the matter?”

Ventus blinks quickly, suddenly embarrassed by his behavior. “S-sorry. It’s just that… I’m not sure why, but… I think we’ve met before.”

There’s a beat of silence before she speaks. “Really?” she questions as one side of her lips quirk up into a smirk that seems a touch too mischievous for someone of royal blood. “I wonder…”

His brows furrow further. “Wonder what-“ The word leaves his mouth in a sudden gasp. It feels like he’s being ripped in half, like he’s being pulled in a dozen different directions at once. He’s knows it should hurt, that it should be unbearably painful, but it isn’t. It’s like he’s made of glass and in slow motion he’s watching himself shatter, unfeeling as the cracks pierce through him, spidering until he’s made only of shards and dust.

Just as suddenly as it starts, it stops. The room is too white, too bright again. Why is he here?

Aurora takes another step forward, arm outstretched and hovering as it reaches towards him. “Are you alright, Ven?”

He isn’t sure how to answer that.

The throne he’s stuck in is hard and uncomfortable, a cold marble that leaves him numb from skin to bone. Maybe that’s why everything is painless. He doesn’t think it’s that bad, though, not in comparison to his dawning realization.

He doesn’t remember anything. He doesn’t know why he’s here. He’s sure he still has memories, he can feel them like the ghost of an embrace, the grazing of fingertips at the edge of his thoughts and the weight of a word on the tip of his tongue that will never come to be.

“I’m fine,” he smiles. “Just-“ He’s interrupted by a yawn. His skin feels too tight when it stretches, like it hasn’t moved in a very long time. “Just sleepy, I think.”

A smile crosses her lips that he can’t place the emotion of. He thinks it might be something complicated, but at the same time he thinks he might know exactly how she feels. “It’s fine to sleep,” she says quietly, her eyes downcast. “We all have to rest sometimes.”

“I’m okay,” he insists. He’s scared of what will happen if he closes his eyes for too long again. He’s scared the warmth will leave the room when she does. He’s scared of being shrouded in darkness instead of being blinded by light.

The fog on the opposite side of their cage starts to thin.

She shakes her head. “We’ll meet again, one day. I’m sure of it.”

Ventus forces a chuckle and copies her movement. “You might not even remember me.” He doesn’t mean for his voice to sound as strained as it does. It’s hard to put faith in anyone’s memories when you can’t even grasp your own. “Maybe in the waking world-“

“Oh no,” she interrupts with a tender smile and soft eyes, a warmth radiating from her that feels much different from the light in his own heart. “I’ll surely remember you. Without a doubt.”

“Then what about me?” he argues and he isn’t even sure why. Maybe it’s because he knows she’s leaving. Maybe he’s trying to hold on, to stave off the return of this lonely slumber for a little while longer. “What if I don’t remember you?”

She kneels before the throne his body still sleeps in and holds his hands lightly between her delicate fingers. It feels wrong to have a princess kneel before him, but she speaks before he can urge her to stand again. “Then I’ll simply remind you that we’ve met before. Once upon a dream.”

Ven has a feeling he’s been dreaming for much longer than just the time he’s sat in this throne.

“I have to go now,” she says softly, quietly, her voice smoother than silk. “They’re trying to wake me.”

He wonders if he’ll ever be able to say the same.

“It’s okay,” he smiles, squeezing her hands gently before letting them go. “You shouldn’t keep them waiting.”

She nods and stands, walking back in the direction that she somehow entered this sealed room from.

Ven can’t help himself. “Thank you,” he calls out as she disappears into a vast whiteness that crosses the bounds of this sleeping realm he’s trapped in.

She’s fading from his view but he can still make out the smile on her lips, the reassurance in her eyes. “You’ll wake up soon, Ventus. I’m sure of it.”

His eyelids feel heavy, his ears ringing from the emptiness of the returning silence. His head starts to loll, suddenly too weighty for his neck to hold up. His eyes close. He can’t find the strength to even yawn. “I hope you’re right… Aurora…”

**Author's Note:**

> [twitter](http://twitter.com/deepseasalt_) | [tumblr](http://deepseasalt.tumblr.com) | [carrd](http://zephyreden.carrd.co)


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